Patients in a hospital setting often require a number of pieces of medical equipment for their care. Such medical equipment may include intravenous-related devices, monitors for tracking vital signs of the patient, oxygen tanks, etc. This equipment is necessarily connected directly to the patient, and is thus typically supported on an upright post-type assembly kept near the patient, and which travels along with the patient as the patient is transported between various areas of care in the hospital. These types of post assemblies are sometimes provided as freestanding wheeled units, and thus transporting the patient can require multiple persons, one to manipulate the patient support, and another to manipulate the post assembly carrying the associated medical equipment.
In view of the above, post assemblies which mount directly to the patient support have been developed, which are easier to handle since same travel along with the patient support. Further, in some settings, such as an operating room, intensive care area or patient room, it is often desirable to support the equipment associated with a particular patient on a stable support structure, such as an arrangement which is mounted directly to a wall, floor or ceiling of the room or area. As the patient is moved between different areas in the hospital, for example for procedures or testing, it is necessary to transfer the equipment associated with the patient between various support structures. Accordingly, there is a need for ease in transfer of a post assembly of the type described above between these support structures.